Britain's top policeman quizzed over Prince Harry nude pics

LONDON (AFP) - Prince Harry's protection officers cannot intrude into his social life, Britain's top policeman said on Tuesday as he was quizzed over the nude photos of the third-in-line to the throne.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told lawmakers that the police who guard Britain's royal family would be crossing a "golden line" if they intervened in their personal lives.

The grainy camera-phone pictures of 27-year-old Prince Harry cavorting naked with a mystery woman during a wild party in a Las Vegas hotel suite appeared on a United States celebrity gossip website last month before spreading virally online.

The affair has hugely embarrassed the royal family and raised questions about why Prince Harry's protection officers, who are supplied by the Metropolitan Police, did not step in when he stripped and revellers took photos.